How does the Internet work in cars?

The internet inside the cars is used to show movies to children during long trips, and drivers can listen to podcasts or favorite music while heading to work every morning.

But car owners are often bothered by their inability to run some applications smoothly, and this is most often due to the way the Internet accesses the car and how it is distributed.

"Smart phones provide a lot of useful functions for the user, and this also applies to the car's Internet function, since the Internet connection is made through solutions for car-producing companies," Holger Eben of the German magazine "Auto Zeitung" explained.

Integrated SIM card

International companies rely on a sim card (SIM) built into the car in addition to the car’s antenna, which improves the reception of Internet service. The German expert added, “All modern cars include a sim card from the factory to make an emergency distress call, so the producing companies can Equipping its cars with a mobile data connection to be used for entertainment. "

Customers often have the possibility of free use of services during the first three years, such as real-time traffic data, weather forecasts, or searching for petrol stations, and these systems also allow remote access to the car, in addition to the ability to use smart phone applications to activate the heating function or show the location The Car.

WLAN wireless network

In addition to the ability to create a wireless local area network, known as Wireless LAN, via another built-in sim card, but this function is not available for some car companies.

"The disadvantage of such services is that the customer cannot choose the company that provides mobile telephony services, in addition to that the choice between tariffs is often very limited," said Markus Weidner of the German telecommunications portal, "Teletariv.de."

There is a very limited number of car companies that rely on sim cards for roaming, which allow logging in to different networks for mobile phone connections, in addition to the fact that most systems do not allow the possibility of using the user's sim card.

Weidner believes that it is better to test the data communication system tariff with a small package before deciding on solutions embedded in cars, thus the user can verify whether the network chosen by the manufacturer and the specific tariffs suit the user's purposes.

Mobile LTE Access Point

Another way to connect the car to the Internet is through the mobile "LTE" access point. "Such equipment is connected to a cigarette lighter and works like a small router," Eben explained.

Equipped with such equipment a SIM card, the mini router runs at speeds of up to 150 Mbps and provides internet connection for up to 10 peripherals.

The data sim card is often cheaper than the smartphone sim card, which provides both mobile and data communication capabilities.

In contrast to the built-in systems in the car, the user has to deal here with additional cables in the car's cabin, and another disadvantage of these systems is that the reception quality cannot be improved.

The same applies when the smartphone is used as an access point to the Internet. Weidner says, "Usually, the user cannot access the antenna installed in the car, and almost no smart phone provides the ability to connect an external antenna."

The user, who relies on his smartphone as an access point to the Internet, must place his smartphone in the best possible location.

“Smartphones provide the best reception quality when they are placed on the dashboard directly under the windshield,” advises Professor Peter Richert, Professor of Communication Technology at Münster University of Applied Sciences.

Richert added that this is considered the best area to receive the signals of the Global Positioning System (GPS), although the signals are somewhat weak inside the car because the metal body of the car protects the passengers from lightning, but the mobile phone communication signals are still Able to penetrate it because it is propagated differently as electromagnetic waves.

And if the user wants to give up holders of smartphones and small routers, and he does not have a built-in system in the car, he can equip his car using one of the systems available in specialized stores. "There are some offers such as the phone box in which the smartphone is charged, and access to Car antenna.

There are some models that include a slot for installing a built-in SIM card, so that the user can continue to use the multi-SIM card for contracting a smartphone, or install a data SIM card using a special contract, and among the other advantages of these offers is that they limit electrical radiation inside the car cabin.

Signal reception quality

Regardless of the Internet connection system used in the car, whether it is a built-in solution in the car, a small router, a smart phone, or an accessory equipment, the quality of signal reception depends on the coverage of the mobile phone network.

Weidner assured that the reception of the LTE network has become good on highways and in large cities. However, the situation may look different in rural areas, and there are also great differences between companies operating mobile phone services.

The traffic speed does not affect the reception quality of the mobile phone network inside the car, so there can be no disturbances when traveling at a speed of 130 kilometers per hour, as long as it is related to making regular phone calls or sending SMS messages at least.

The data transfer rate has become more important when using entertainment applications. "The decisive factor here is the quality of the cellular telephone network coverage, which is related to the number of transmission towers," he said.

The fifth generation (5G) mobile phone technology will not change anything, rather the opposite, because the data transmission rate is higher in the new network, which requires more smaller cells to provide good coverage for the network.